Seabrook tackles big problem: Beach resident parking

SEABROOK — The Parking Study Committee and Seabrook residents recently discussed the biggest problem with beach resident parking: too many people and too few spots.

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By Corinne Holroyd

seacoastonline.com

By Corinne Holroyd

Posted Feb. 4, 2014 at 11:42 AM
Updated Feb 6, 2014 at 4:34 PM

By Corinne Holroyd

Posted Feb. 4, 2014 at 11:42 AM
Updated Feb 6, 2014 at 4:34 PM

» Social News

SEABROOK — The Parking Study Committee and Seabrook residents recently discussed the biggest problem with beach resident parking: too many people and too few spots.

According to the committee's chairman, Paula Wood, a meeting on Jan. 29 had a large turnout and residents were able to freely talk with the committee and Police Chief Lee Bitomske.

“We took a lot of input from the residents, there were a few from uptown but most of them were beach residents,” Wood said.

According to Selectman Raymond Smith, residents approached him at his harbor office with the issue and he helped to create the committee.

“You've got 100 spots with well over 1,000 people wanting to use them,” said Selectman Raymond Smith.

Wood said that one of the biggest problems is the town's process of handing out placards, or permits, for parking, some of which have been shared and even counterfeited.

“There are too many placards given out for the ratio of spaces,” she said. “Over the years it's been given out to everyone instead of just the residents.”

Bitomske said that the counterfeit placards — which included problems like property owners or their tenants making copies and giving them to friends or tenants — were investigated and that they “hope it won't happen again.”

According to Public Works Manager John Starkey, the issue is not just the beach's parking availability, but parking all over town.

With over-parking, state lines and extending properties, Smith said the committee has quite the job to do.

“The info has been given to them, but they have a lot to work with,” he said. “It'll be like any group you put together there's going to be a percentage that will not agree with the committee's decision.”

Starkey and Bitomske met with the committee on Tuesday, Jan. 15, to discuss ideas.

Starkey's idea is that the town should set aside unused Yankee Fisherman Cooperative parking spots — which the town leases to fishermen — for residents.

“My opinion was that when the next lease is negotiated that at least a portion of the vacant (spots) could be designated as Seabrook resident parking only,” Starkey said.

This, according to him, would open up between 45 and 50 spots for Seabrook residents. Starkey, however, will implement whatever policy the town will put into place.

“If the committee brings that as a recommendation to the town manager or Board of Selectmen, then I don't need to render an opinion,” he said. “I would defer to their knowledge.”

Bitomske gave a similar idea, only with a town parking lot to the south of Yankee Fisherman Cooperative.

“I would like to see all on-street parking go away and to have the town construct a parking lot … for residents only and they could walk to the beach,” he said.

While the walk might be longer than roadside parking, the trip might be safer for beach-goers and police alike. With cars parked on the road, it is difficult for officers to take that roadway to get to their emergency. Walking on the road also provides hazards from drivers on the roads.

“There's got to be some alternate way, you're not going to make everyone happy,” Bitomske said.

With his suggestion, Bitomske also believes his suggestion would allow officers to spend less time chasing down illegally parked drivers.

The suggestion made by the committee, however, was to follow town ordinance 249-19, which defines who can get a placard for parking.

The ordinance, originally ratified in 1990, says that residents can get a parking permit for each registered vehicle.

It also defines a resident as “any person who registers his motor vehicle within the town of Seabrook and/or those persons on the official Seabrook checklist,” the checklist being the town's voter checklist.

Wood said she would hope the residents agree with the committee because the residents “voted the ordinance in” originally.

Joyce Addison, a town resident, is also fed up with the parking situation, especially during the summer. She filed a petition warrant article that calls for the town to reserve at least 10 parking spaces for town residents in the Seabrook Harbor parking lot.

According to Addison, residents used to have that side of the beach available for parking, but now the state owns half of that area due to the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant.

“We pay our taxes, we should be able to park there for free like we used to,” she said.

Addison gave examples of Massachusetts drivers parking there for the day, as well as fishermen parking horizontally with their boats “taking up eight or nine spots.”

“We've seen people park there and go to work in the surrounding buildings for the whole day,” she said.

Addison's petition was up for deliberation on Feb. 4 and voting will take place on March 11.

“All I'm looking out for is an honest effort,” Smith said of the committee. “We could not solve all the problems in one year.”